Hot!In Buffalo/Rochester for 2009 Roadfood Bus Tour

In Buffalo/Rochester for 2009 Roadfood Bus Tour

This past weekend was the annual Roadfood bus tour, which this year took place in Rochester/Buffalo. On Friday night, my girlfriend Mariton, her 13 year old daughter Emilou and myself drove the easy three hours from Pittsburgh to Buffalo. We picked up cousin Johnny at the Buffalo airport and met a large group of fellow Roadfooders at Eckl's Beef on Weck in Orchard Park. Among those in attendance were Wanderingjew, NoCarolina, Mr Chips, Buffalo Tarheel, plus ChiTownDiner and his group of shady characters. WJ told me there was going to be a surprise guest, who I have met before and it was none other than the first fellow Roadfooder I met, and old friend, Bethgrd! Because our party had grown to 20+ attendees, I didn't get to meet everyone at the other table. But it was great to get reaquainted with old friends and meet new ones (BuffaloTarheel). Unfortunately, I was so busy socializing, I forgot to take any photos of other people here, a mistake I corrected the rest of the trip. At least here are some food photos.....I believe this may be the owner, Dale Eckl himself carving the beef for our Beef on Weck sandwiches.My sandwich was ordered with the meat medium. Outstanding!

Of course, the usual side for this meal is German potato salad and as someone who grew up in a German household, I don't say this easily, but the combination of sweet and vinegary tang made this one of the best I have ever had. Mariton went for the pork chop, which were extremely thick and juicy.ChiTownDiner led the charge on dessert, which we all passed around to sample.Instead of pie (yeah, I know, I took a lot razzing for it), I went for a hot fudge sundae instead.Just about everyone I spoke to thought Eckl's was a home run! And the staff treated us extremely well, even coming over and passing out menus for us to take at the end of the meal. We were off to a great start to the weekend!